Me and my GPS

Now for me I saw pilots with portable GPS models around the year 2000. Was I envious? Only the cost put me off buying one. I remained a chart, watch and compass man for my XC navigation. Then a friend hung up his flying goggles and asked if I would like his GPS unit. Is the Pope a Catholic? I was given a Trimble Flightmate. I was in hog heaven? It was a beautiful unit and came complete with a leather carry case, mounting brackets and an external antenna. As I recall it was a CDI model. I used it for a time then our friends the regulators elected to change the Australian aerodrome waypoints from an A prefix to that of a Y. Thus ASBK became YSBK.

The Trimble was geared for the A prefix and nothing would change its mind.

I chose to go back to chart watch and compass. I saved my pennies and bought a Garmin 90 portable GPS unit. It had a mono screen and a flip up antenna that could be removed and mounted on a windscreen to get better reception. It had a better screen than the Trimble.

I flew straight tracks around the countryside with the 90 until the day that the screen started to delaminate. Then I found gold. A friend in Queensland had a retired model 90 in his collection and I bought it from him. I could again find my way around on a straight line.

That in turn was an issue. Older pilots will recall that in the early days of the GPS the regulator of the day was telling VFR pilots to fly parallel to the direct track and leave that for the IFR boys. Guess what the VFR boys did?

Time flew and Garmin produced their next generation models. That included the model 96/96C. C for colour. My penny collection was good so I bought a 90C and retired the model 90.

I have barely started using the 90C to assist my nav when I flew with a student on an interstate trip. He produced his Ipad 2 that had not only weather and the ability to log in a flight plan but it also had a real moving map display complete with graphics of the terrain that we were flying over. It was like looking through a hole in the cockpit floor.

Now there are two prime vendors of EFB or Electronic Flight Bags here in Australia. Oz Runways and AvPlan. I keep thinking of them as Ford and Holden or is it Holden and Ford? They are constantly running neck and neck with improvements and new things in their systems. I am with one brand, guess which?

I bought an iPad 2 with all the bells and whistles and life could never be easier. I have used it to assist my navigation across Australia from East to West, from South to North and return.

How did we ever exist before GPS navigation became everyday stuff? It just made navigation so easy.

‘How did we ever cope before GPS navigation became everyday stuff?’

The E6B and the 96C got retired although the 96C is still carried in my flight bag, ready in case my iPad has a hiccup.

I wore out the iPad 2 and am now on an iPad 5.

Now there are all manner of tablets available to buy and use to assist pilot navigation. Various brands and sizes. Before you buy one talk with sellers and other pilots to find out which is best for you and what software it should have.

It is unfortunate to say that a portable GPS unit makes navigation so easy that some VFR pilots will be tempted to use the unit and an autopilot for what amounts to IFR flight without the necessary training.

Be warned, complacency kills and will.

One can see that paper charts will in the future become redundant and that is the way they are going in the US. It is probable that in the future the regulator will allow GPS navigation as the prime navigation system sans paper charts from basic cross country training onwards.

For me I fly my portable GPS VFR with a tad of reservation and as an assist, the charts are still in the cockpit.

Portable aviation GPS navigation devices. Never leave home without one!

Contact Dave by email: [email protected]